Lonely
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen as your best friends? What more could Laxus' son ask for? Probably a kid of his own age to play with... - One-shot, set in the Dragon's Roar series.


He was born in a tumultuous time. From the financial distress to the actual stress that his parents' marriage was undergoing, he was hardly a welcomed blessing. But a blessing all the same. All babies were, after all, his mother assured herself many times. And even when they weren't, his father did much the same, they were still an important step in building a legacy.

And Laxus Dreyar was building a legacy.

None of this was ever felt by the boy, however. If anything, he felt more connected to his parents than he would in a normal circumstance.

It helped that, a lot of times, they were some of his only playmates. From the time he could toddle about, his days were spent exploring the crevices and hidden secrets of the decrepit old building his parents were in a constant state of renovating. He enjoyed the days when most the hall was empty and his mother and father had time to race his toy cars around the wooden guild house just as much as he enjoyed the solitude down in the cellar, where it was cold and damp and full of all sorts of interesting critters.

"And monsters," Laxus half-heartily warned when Mira complained a bit about not wanting him down there.

It served to deter him...for a bit. But he always found his way back there.

"You're an adventurous, precocious growing boy," Freed assured him. "It's quite reasonable that, with such an imagination, you are not sustained through normal means."

"Like me," Bickslow added with a grin, "as a child. Now, even."

Not liking this assertion, Freed remarked, "He is nothing like you, Bickslow. I assure you."

"And he's also none of the things that you called him anyways." Evergreen, who of course was seated at the table with the two me, stared at the little boy from behind her hand fan as she remarked, "You're not special. No one is."

He liked them. The three of them. They were all gone frequently, off on jobs, but when they were around, whether it was just one, two, or even all three of them around, each found time for him. In their own special ways.

Bickslow was, honestly, closer to what a real friend his age would be, for each and every age he had, were he allowed to have normal relationships with others. But given that most of the members of their guildhall were either single or estranged from their families, he didn't have many chances to meet other kids. When all he liked to do was stack blocks, well, hey, Bickslow had some perfectly stackable babies right there! Action figures? He loved to play with those! And build forts and play hide and seek and annoy the fuck out of Laxus. All of the boy's favorite pastimes.

He was around more often than the other two also, Bickslow was, which also helped strengthen their relationship. He was someone to play pretend and sneak junk food with. Not the best role model, perhaps not even one at all, but a fine guy to spend hours playing space ship verses space monster with.

Freed was different. Because he was, literally, different. He was very studious and expected the mostly left to his own devices child to be also. He tried hard to be, honestly, the boy really did, but sometimes letters and numbers and books and art and conversation that exceeded the scope of whether hamburgers or hotdogs were better. Every time Freed returned, recently, he had a whole new book for him to read and expected him to have finished the other one and wow, why did he like when the guy came around again?

For all the same reasons, honestly. He had an equal distaste for doing his letters and numbers and reading as he did love. He liked when his father would pat him on the head and tell him that, hey, he sure was getting smart. Or when his mother would giggle and remark that she never took such an interest in writing and wow, it was almost legible.

Evergreen wasn't as much a playmate or a teacher, as the two men were, but just as close to being a friend to the boy as either. If Bickslow was mostly around and Freed was typically gone, then Evergreen fell somewhere in the middle. He neither expected nor didn't expect her to be around, when he awoke in the mornings. If she was down there, flipping through a magazine when he awoke or sipping some wine after his nap time, he was ecstatic. If she weren't though, or had disappeared in the interim without mentioning it to him, he never cared much.

He figured she felt the same about him, honestly. If he was there, great. If not, also great.

She mostly liked to take him shopping with her. It was really the only times that he got to leave the decaying town his guildhall claimed as home other than when his mother would take him into Magnolia. Aunt Ever knew many other towns though, to travel by train to, where varieties of shops awaited them. Usually, if he was very good, she'd deviate from their typical clothing store and take him into a toy shop.

She did complain the entire time, but he always seemed to take her utter distaste as slight ribbing.

It would be a lie, however, to say that he didn't get lonely sometimes. When the bar was getting slammed, so his mother had to work, his father was locked away on very important business in his office, and those three were off on jobs, fine, usually he found ways to entertain himself, but being the only kid on the property (the town, mostly, it felt like) really was driven home when no one was around to play with. You can only read the same books, play with the same toys, and explore the same area so many times.

When he was about seven, however, something pretty monuments happened.

He was up early that morning, mostly because his parents were up early that morning, and was sitting up at the bar, eating his breakfast. His mother was behind it, hardly listening as he told her about a funny joke Bickslow had told her (if she had, she'd have been very upset to learn the reason he thought it was funny was completely different from it's intended purpose and, once more, the seith would have a good talking to about what's proper to share with a child). Instead, Mira's eyes were transfixed on the guildhall doors, as if anticipating something.

Laxus had gone out them, much earlier, to meet with someone he grumbled when the boy asked. He imagined, the boy did, that it was just a normal boring person that wanted to join their guild (they'd had a lot of them recently) and didn't pay much mind to it. He was partially right, at least, as when his father came back in, Freed having met him at some point out there, they were with another man. His hair was dark blue and he had some sort of a tribal pain design over his eye.

At the sight of him, the boy's mother rushed from behind the bar to greet the man, smiling brightly. It was enough to make the child turn and truly consider the man.

"Get over here then," Laxus finally grumbled, nodding over at his son. "You know you welcome people, when you first meet them."

He stumbled to his feet a bit, as he hurriedly swallowed the big gulp of eggs in his mouth at the moment, but did manage to get off his stool and do as his father said. Holding his hand out, he stared up into the eyes of the much taller man who only grinned down at him, if not a bit of a sneer, before taking his hand and gripping it tightly, giving a firm shake.

"Jellal," the man greeted simply. "And you are?"

"Kasper," he whispered softly. There was something about the man. Something so...intimidating. Even with his parents and even Freed standing there, he still felt this...immense pressure radiating from the man. "Dreyar."

"Then you are the young dragon." As he released his hand, Jellal nodded at him. "I am glad you are welcoming me into your guild."

"His guild, huh?" Laxus snorted before crossing his arms over his chest. "Well, Kasp, you're in luck. He's almost stronger than me. Great addition."

"Almost?" Jellal questioned and raised an eyebrow as Mira only beamed, bouncing a bit in the childish way she still had about her.

"It's so good at have you," the woman gushed, reaching out to touch his arm, as if in disbelief. "Here. There's so much to catch up on. Like-"

"Later, demon," Laxus grumbled and he turned then, as if to walk away. "Me and him have our own shit to talk about."

"And I am only here for the time being," Jellal corrected, heading after the other man. "Hopefully, once things die down a bit, I will be able to head on the road once more. Until then-"

"Until then, you keep your mouth shut. All of you." And Laxus stopped, halfway across the bar area, to look back at his son. "Do you hear me, Kasper? You don't breathe a word of this. To anyone. I'm not joking. Jellal's gonna be staying here for a bit, but if you so much as tell someone-"

"Easy, Laxus," Mira cut him off with a frown. "He's not a baby."

Freed, bowing his head towards his Master, only remarked, "I'm sure the boy is old enough to understand a secret."

And it was Jellal's turn to look at the boy, staring him down so easily that, having felt quite annoyed with his father only moments before, the red hot anger he felt melted away into anxiousness as, once more, the man had his eyes.

"I have a child," Jellal remarked simply, "just about your age, Kasper. In fact, in another life, I'm sure you'd both be very close friends. This one, even, perhaps, one day. And she has kept my secret many times over the years. I am certain I can count on you to do the same, can I not?"

He took a breath in, a deep one, but slowly the boy nodded, just barely being able to get out an affirmative answer, before, finally, his father nodded as well and disappeared, off to the back room with Jellal.

Once they'd disappeared, Freed gave Kasper a pat on the head and Mira offered a smile, but he only stared after his father and the newcomer.

Just who was Jellal?

Their new cellar-dweller, as it became in the following days, Laxus having a cot set up for him down there. The lock that was typically never used on the door suddenly had it's key reappear and Mirajane became it's only holder besides a copy that was given to Jellal.

During the day, he stayed down there, from all that Kasper could tell, but at night, when they closed up at, and most, only his mother, father, and the Thunder Legion remained, he came out to speak with all of them. He could hear them down there, Kasper could, late into the night as he sat up in the attic, in the part of it sectioned off from his parents. He got the window, at least, as his bed was pressed up against the wall it sat on, from which he stared out at the city many late nights, while his parents stayed down stairs, busy with the many functions that went into running your own business.

In those days though, he listened as they instead had drinks and reminisced, somewhat, and argued at other times, his father and Jellal did, about something or other. Typically about who was more powerful. Jellal seemed much more at ease with the topic while Laxus only seemed to get worked up.

"Your father doesn't like it," Mira sighed to him more than once over the course of his life, "when he thinks that someone might possibly be stronger than him. A complex."

But it didn't sound complex at all to Kasper. Pretty cut and dry.

The fact that Jellal now caused one of his favorite exploration places to be closed off was quickly remedied, however, as, within two weeks, a new development happened.

"Your Aunt Lisanna is coming to visit," his mother told him happily one more, but, with an extra wide grin, she added, "And she's bringing someone special along."

Ah.

He'd met many 'someone special' of Lisanna before and wasn't too up for meeting her new boyfriend. It still made him giggle and snicker, the thought of his aunt having one of those and kissing and being in love and stuff. It was gross.

Plus...well, he wasn't too close his aunt. Or his uncle. His mother went to Magnolia to visit them more often than they came to see Dragon's Roar, only passing through occasionally, so he mostly saw them on special occasions. They seemed to like him and whole lot and they sent him presents in the mail all the time, but…

He just didn't feel all too close to them. That was all.

And his mother said that was okay, when he told her that, but she always looked a bit sad at the thought.

"Don't feel bad," Laxus told him whenever he voiced this to him alone. "They're strange, Lisanna and Elfman are. Everyone from Fairy Tail is."

"Aren't you from Fairy Tail?" he'd ask as this was Laxus' typical response to any of his former cohorts. The man would only sneer though."

"That was years ago, Kasp," he'd insist to him. "I was a boy them. And you can't stay in the same plays you were, when you were a boy, and expect to ever be a man."

He heard a lot of stories about that place, Fairy Tail. Even visited it, maybe, when he was a bit younger. But in recent memory, he mostly stayed home when his mother went and well… He liked Dragon's Roar. He liked that it was just him. All the fun that he had, on his own.

Again, he could get lonely sometimes, but…

The stories his mother told of it, with all the kids she grew up with, all the battles and training and magic and just...just…

It all sounded like a bit much.

He didn't think he'd be any good at it, being in Fairy Tail. No. He was a dragon through and through.

When his aunt arrived though, it wasn't with another man. Or a guild member. Not really. No. It wasn't even someone she probably spent a lot of time around.

"Two kids of Masters," Mira giggled when he was introduced to the girl. "It makes perfect sense that we would have the two of you meet. No ulterior motive at all."

"I mean, when you put it like that," Lisanna scolded slightly, "you might given people the idea to look for some."

Mira and Lisanna hugged, there in the guildhall, the second they saw one another, laughing over this conversation of theirs while Kasper, standing there, having been expecting to meet a boyfriend of his aunts, only frowned a bit at the blue haired child before him.

Slowly, he raised one hand, as if in greet and, with a bright smile, she returned it.

"Oh, Kasper," Mira giggled as, finally, she separated from her sister. "This is very special friend. Her mother's the Master of Fairy Tail, your grandfather's old guild. You guys will be fast friends, I'm sure."

He wasn't nearly as certain, a bit nervous as he was around new people, but the girl seemed completely at ease in a guild she'd never been before. She only moved to take the backpack slung over her back and hold it out to him.

"Wanna play?" she asked simply, unzipping it and revealing, inside, an assortment of toys. "Kasper?"

He wasn't sure what to say, but when he felt his mother's eyes, he slowly did nod his head before running off, up the stairs, the girl easily following.

Regardless of his apprehensions, it hardly took another ten minutes before, with certainty, any idea of loneliness or lack of childhood friends was washed away from the boy. They combined her action figures with his toy cars and had a great time, up in the attic, playing warriors with them. They were having so much fun that he sorta...forgot...to even...ask her name…

He was a bit embarrassed when, over a lunch his mother finally brought up to them, he was forced to do so. They sat on the floor beside one another, slightly away from their toys, a plate of food balanced in each of their laps.

"I'm Cam," she remarked simply. "Camilla Scarlet. My mother's Master Erza Scarlet of the Fairy Tail guild."

Swallowing, he was quick to nod and attempt to add," My dad is-"

But Cam wouldn't let him.

"Your dad is Laxus Dreyar, the Master of Dragon's Roar. His the old Master's grandson. And your mom is Mirajane Strauss."

"Dreyar," he corrected, but she hardly listened.

"My mom's friends with them," she finished.

"That's why you came?" he asked then, for the first time questioning this. "Because our parents are friends?"

Her face changed then, Cam's did, and she only gulped down a big bite of her sandwich before turning to crawl back over to where their toys sat. She clearly didn't want to answer and, well, when he really thought about it, he didn't care much. At all.

He was kind of just glad to finally have another friend to spend time with, honestly. And one his own age at that.

They played the whole day. When their toys upstairs got boring, they went downstairs where Mirajane only shooed them off outside, making Kasper promise to keep with in his usual boundary markers. It was pretty much the most fun he had in a long time. They played tag and hide and seek and, eventually, just kind of fell into the dirt outside and panted, tired from their play.

When night fell and Lisanna left for the only inn in town, Kasper expected his new friend to follow suit, but she didn't. He didn't ask as they ate dinner together if she was staying forever, but he was kind of fine if she was. So far. If it meant he kept getting to have a new playmate.

It was only around closing, when his mother didn't force him off to bed that he began to think something was going on. And, once everyone was gone and the doors were all locked up, he found out what.

"Father!"

When Jellal came out of the basement up to join them, he found out exactly why she was there. Or at least he figured he did. Cam jumped off the stool she'd been sitting beside him at, where they both mostly had been resting with their heads down, past each of their bedtimes, no doubt. He frowned some, watching as she ran right over to the man and, for once, Jellal didn't look so...smug. That was the word, maybe, for the man. He actually looked happy as he dropped to one knee and hugged Cam warmly.

Laxus and Mira were the only others left in the bar at that point, and the slayer snorted some, from where he sat at a table by himself, just from the sight, but Mira seemed to get teary eyed.

"I haven't seen you in so long," Cam said against the man's chest and she even sounded weepy, perhaps, just a bit. "But Mom said if I came with Miss Lisanna that-"

"It is all right." And he patted the back of her head gently before standing, lifting the girl easily off the ground. "Things have been...tense, recently, for me. I had to go into a bit of hiding. But luckily, Master Laxus has found a place for me, here, for now. And…" He let out a short breath as he dropped her gently back on her feet, looking her deeply into the eyes. Kasper watched, only lifting his head slightly, and smiled some.

Maybe Jellal wasn't all bad.

"It's time for bed."

His own father came to lift him up, though it was only to pull him to his feet. Kasper wanted to protest, but was half asleep already, so the real challenge, honestly, was managing to climb the stairs all on his own.

"So Jellal is Cam's dad?" he yawned as his mother came up to be sure he changed out of his clothes.

"Mmmhmm," she sighed as she smoothed back his fair hair some, once he, finally, fell into bed.

"But...but her mom's Master Erza, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Then why doesn't he go to Fairy Tail? Instead of here?" His eyes felt heavy and, as they finally closed, he whispered, "Why does he have to stay in the basement?"

"Those are things better left for another day," his mother told him simply as she pulled the covers up tight around him. "Not everyone is as lucky as you, to have two parents who will always be there for you. Just sleep, Kasp. It'll all make sense eventually. I promise."

He believed her.

Cam slept down in the cellar with her father that night, but, in the light of day, he stayed down there to rest and she came back up. There were so many things Kasper wanted to ask her, to know, but he'd been told not to ask and, well, if he expected for his mother to keep hers to him, he had to keep his to her.

"Do you think you'll stay here now?" he did finally ask her as they played outside that day. "Cam?"

She gave him a frown before remarking, "I'm from Fairy Tail. I have to go home. I'm just visiting."

"Well," he sighed a bit with a shrug. "Maybe you can come visit now? Since..."

He meant since they were clearly such great friends and everything, but she only frowned some more, misconstruing him to be speaking on her father. Still, she only shrugged some.

"Probably," she agreed.

"Dragon's Roar's pretty great," he kept up. "There's a lot to do." He could tell she had her doubts so he was quick to add, "Other than play with toys and stuff. There's a lot to do."

"Isn't there anyone to play with?"

"Yeah!" He was quick to nod. "There's Freed and Ever and Bickslow."

"Where are they?"

"Well, they're on missions, right now, but-"

"They're adults?"

"Well...yeah, I guess, but-"

"Aren't there any kids?"

"No." He felt defeated in this. "Just me."

"That's sad. There's tons of people to play with at Fairy Tail." Still, she only reached out to pat him on the shoulder. "I guess you're pretty lucky I'm here."

He didn't like this implication and wanted to explain to her that, actually, he was pretty okay on his own and Fairy Tail wasn't anywhere close as great as Dragon's Roar and that's how come his mother and father and Freed and Ever and Bickslow had left it because it was lame and how could it be so good if her own father was aligned here instead of there?

She was the one that was lucky. That his guild, his father's guild, let her stupid father stay in the basement, his basement, for whatever dumb reason, and, and, and-

"I guess so," he sighed, kicking at the ground and she beamed for some reason. When he raised his head, it was hard for him not to do the same.

When Lisanna took Cam back home a few days later, Kasper was more than sad to see her go. He was actual rather mournful. It would be hard to go back to being the only one who wanted to race and play tag.

At least until Bickslow got back.

"I feel the same way," his mother told him that afternoon as he sat up at the bar, looking down. Patting him on the head, she stood on the other side of the bar with her typical put on smile. "When my sister and brother have to go back home. It's not a nice feeling, is it?"

"No," he sighed. "It's not."

"But that just means," she went on, "that eventually, you get to see them again. And that's an even better feeling. It even makes the sad one, the one you have right now, and the anxious one, the one you get when you wonder when they'll come back, feel kind of good."

"Maybe everyone from Fairy Tail isn't strange," he agreed to which his father, who was beside him, only choked on his ale and Mira looked at him with accusing eyes.

It was only once she was off to actual serve some bar patrons that Laxus frowned down at his son and insisted, "Yes, Kasp, they actually are. But… It's what makes them so great."

With a shrug and a sigh, he only rested his head back against his folded arms atop the bar.

If his father thought so.

* * *

**I've always been asked to do a Jerza kid (especially in the Remember Me series), but I've never wanted to because the situation never felt right. I don't keep up with Fairy Tail cannon these days (I tapped out sometime after they were rebuilding the guild following Tartus), so I'm not even sure what Jellal does currently or how involved he is in current plot lines (is he even still a fugitive? I can't recall), but it all fit for this. I'll eventually do a one-shot that focuses on Erza and Jellal's half of things from this point in the series, but for now, I'm just glad to have the Dragon's Roar kids (so far) named and slightly characterized. **

**I know a lot of people aren't into Dragon's Roar yet, but give me a chance, guy. It'll be as fun as Remember Me. Hopefully. **


End file.
